Thursday, May 16, 2013

Movie In-Jokes: Star Trek

One of the fun games when watching movies is to spot references, secret messages and gags that filmmakers, film crews and actors can slip into movies to pay tribute to films they love, have a bit of fun with their previous work, or give the cinematic equivalent of a shout-out. Here's a spotter's guide to these inside jokes.

This week, in honor of the release of Star Trek Into Darkness, let's take a peek at J.J. Abrams' tribute to that other big sci-fi film franchise and an omen of his directorial future in this shot from his reboot of the Star Trek franchise.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Movie In-Jokes: The Frighteners

One of the fun games when watching movies is to spot references, secret messages and gags that filmmakers, film crews and actors can slip into movies to pay tribute to films they love, have a bit of fun with their previous work, or give the cinematic equivalent of a shout-out. Here's a weekly spotter's guide to these inside jokes.

To start, a nice little nod to the past in Peter Jackson's horror-comedy, The Frighteners. This reference is a particular favorite of mine since it involves one of my favorite movies and its one of the few I've spotted on my own.